Self-Esteem

School Library Journal

Gr 5-9-- In Cooperation , the information and ideas are satisfactory, but are not expressed well. The tone seems intended for a young audience, with the sentence patterns and rhythms of a high/low text, but the vocabulary is fairly advanced. The limited glossary doesn't help much, either. Full-color and black-and-white photographs support the topic, but the further reading suggestions, lacking publisher and publication year, are barely useful; it's hard to imagine readers going on to Fossey's Gorillas in the Mist . While not about cooperation per se, Denise V. Lang's But Everyone Else Looks So Sure of Themselves (Shoe Tree, 1991) is a more appropriate choice. Self-Esteem , the better of the two, is smoothly written, in a style appealing to its audience, and jumps right into the topic. Readers will see, through relevant examples, that the root of self-esteem is respect. Topics such as setting realistic goals and the positive values of fitting in are simply yet effectively explained. The photographs reinforce the ideas; most terms are adequately defined in the text; and there are good suggestions for further reading. Much better than Judy Klare's Self-Esteem (Rourke, 1989), this does lack a section on getting help that the other title includes. Also, Klare's book is aimed at girls while Thomas addresses both sexes. --Diane P. Tuccillo, Mesa Public Library, AZ